Nominations for the second annual Marquette Community Award will be available until Wednesday, April 23, and five winners will be granted a $150 gift card to the restaurant of choice.
Rachel Pereira, Marquette Parent Organization president, was nominated for the district’s ROSE award a few times and has served on its reading committee. Through these experiences, she said she became aware of how many important and amazing individuals contribute to Rockwood School District.
“There’s just so many people that are just pouring their heart and soul into making our community a wonderful and more welcoming place,” Pereira said.
Since the ROSE award encompasses the entire district, Pereira said she felt many MHS individuals were not getting the recognition they deserved.
“I really wanted to honor and celebrate the different people at all levels: students, staff, volunteers, parents, resource officers and of the people that are connected to our community,” Pereira said.
Pereira was on the lookout for those who represented the core values of Marquette: respect, integrity, commitment and kindness. Last year’s winners have their names engraved on a plaque at the entrance of the school close to the Commons.
“We’ve worked really hard over these past several years to build up these core values that Marquette has, and now we can honor people that go above and beyond in that way,” Pereira said.
(Media by Tracey Waeckerle)
Kevin Schultz, language arts teacher, was one of last year’s nominees. He said he was completely shocked when he learned that he had received the award.
“Shortly after it was introduced, I had learned I won so It was pretty quick,” Schultz said.
Schultz said he is glad there is a form of recognition that hadn’t been seen before.
“I think it’s great that they’re trying to recognize people in the school who try to do a lot for the kids,” Schultz said.
Schultz said he hopes those nominating take the award seriously.
“It’s not just teachers, it’s not just parents, it’s not just administrators, and the award is kind of symbolic of that,” Schultz said.
Through this award students can express their gratitude for those who make a difference.
Lauren Steidtmann, junior, was very interested when she received the email for nominations from Dr. Waeckerle.
“We are in a huge school district and we can’t do all of the amazing things that we do without the help of the teachers, staff, and parents, so it’s really cool to have an award that says, ‘we couldn’t do this without you’” Steidtmann said.
Steidtmann recognized one teacher who made a big impact on her and fellow students in band.
“He came in early everyday and stayed late, he made relationships with students, he is so supportive and everybody loves him,” Steidtmann said.
Her and friends’ recognition of this recent member of the staff led to a change on the nomination form.
“He wasn’t on the list of staff members to pick and so many kids wrote his name anyway and he became an option,” Steidtmann said.
